War
Between the States and Reconstruction

1850 to 1870

copyright 1997 by Historical Novelists Center

The American Civil War, along with the Napoleonic Wars and
WW2, is a contender for Most-Written War. Considering that it
was much shorter than the Napoleonic period, and fought in only
part of one continent by two halves of a not-over-populous country,
we think that the War Between the States wins. Naturally, this
bibliography is not exhaustive, does not dent the surface, indeed
is hardly a fingerprint on the surface.

If you wish to write about specific battles in detail, in homage
to Killer Angels, you are cordially invited to become a
Civil War historian. If you want details of everyday life for
non-battle stories, you will find a good guide below. Note how
many period sources are available in reprint, especially for the
re-enactor. This is a period when newspapers and magazines of
the period can give you a lot of background detail, like how people
of education spoke, and how dialect sounded to them. These periodicals
can always be obtained on microfilm.

We begin this period in the long tense decade during which
the war nearly broke out several times.

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Anonymous

The Ladies' Self Instructor ****
1853
Patterns and instructions for all sorts of dressmaking and millinery,
not to mention knitting, netting, and crochet. T3

Slaves in the Family ***
FSG
Ball tracked down the descendents of his ancestors' slaves, and
gives a chronicle of the lives they led. An insight into African-American
life through ten generations. T2

Barnard, George N.

Photographic Views of Sherman's Campaign ****
1866; now from Dover; 80 pg
61 plates of the various battlefields. T3

Blum, Stella, editor

Fashions and Costumes From Godey's Lady's Book, 1837-1869
*****!
Dover Publications, Inc., NY; 136 pg, 400 illos
If you can get no other costume book for the period, this one
will carry you through all women's fashions and accesories from
rising to sleeping, many children's garment, and even some views
of men. T1

Photographic History of the Civil War *****!vol.
I, Fort Sumter to Gettysburg
BD&L, 1996; 1,371 pgsvol. 2, Vicksburg to Appomattox
BD&L, 1996; 1,366 pgs
Killer visual set, text by the gang at Civil War Times Illustrated.
Genuine lapbreakers, but worth the injury. T2-3

Duffy, Christopher

Fire and Stone: The Science of Fortress Warfare, 1660-1860
****
Hippocrene Books, NY, 1975
Well-written, well-illustrated and well-designed. The Fortess
Wargame for Miniatures is tactical fun while teaching you how
things can work or go wrong. The other appendix, on how to tour
old fortifications, is good if you get to make the research trip.
T3

Gardner, Alexander

Photographic Sketchbook of the Civil War ****
1866; now from Dover Publications, Inc., NY
100 photos, including ones of slave pens. T3

Gernsheim, Alison

Victorian and Edwardian Fashion: A Photographic Survey,
1840-1914 *****!
Dover Publications; 240 pg, 235 photos (most two to the page,
sideways)
The text is wonderfully researched, with period comments on fashion,
cosmetics, emigrant kits, dyes and colour combinations -- priceless!
Must read, even though very European. T2

Hall, Richard

Patriots in Disguise; Women Warriors of the Civil War
*****!
Paragon House, NY, 1993; 225 pg, select bibliography, index
The size of Appendix A: "Honor Roll for Female Soldiers"
will astound you. Mostly disguised as boys and men, the lack
of medical tests, the bodily modesty considered natural among
men of the time, and the loose military organization allowed
them to slip in and out of combat roles, and even identities.
Even if you do not write about one, you must consider the possibility
that the next soldier down the line, on either side, could be
a woman. T1

Harwell, Richard B.

The Confederate Reader ****
Dover; 416 pg
Good for your first round of reading, to get you well settled
in the Confederate mind before digging deeper. May be all the
depth you need. T1

Hogg, Ian V.

The History of Fortification ***
St. Martin's Press, NY, 1981
Clear, interesting and accurate overview from 7000 BC through
the 1970's, well illustrated with photos and diagrams; bibliography
and glossary. T2

Holloway, Mark

Heavens on Earth: Utopian Communities in America, 1680-1880
****
Dover Publications, Inc., NY
And you thought "cults" were a new thing! Explore the
attempts build new Edens, where your characters may get involved,
or at least discuss if there's one in the neighborhood. T2

People's Names: A Cross-cultural Reference Guide to
the Proper Use of Over 40,000 Personal and Familial Names in
Over 100 Cultures *****!
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers, Jefferson, NC; 1997;
613 pgs, index, select annotated bibliography
While there is a specialty chapter on Victorian American names,
you will also reference all the Contemporary chapters for family
names from all over the world. T1

Kohler, Carl

A History of Costume ****
Dover Publications, Inc., NY
Hand-sized, info-packed, based on surviving clothes first and
artwork secondarily. Author's line drawings of construction and
detail. Neophytes should use with a picture book, which it will
greatly clarify. T1

The Western Ocean Packets ****
Dover; 192 pg
These are the ATLANTIC Packets (fast ships) that are the forerunners
of the fast ocean liners later in the century. Gives which lines
are active when, which ships they added when, and what days they
sailed. A good informative book. T3

Lyman, Darryl

Civil War Wordbook: Including Songs, Phrases, and Expletives
*****!
Combined Books
Here's the book of slang and catch-phrases for this period, some
of which will be borne into the next period by the young men
who started using them during this time. Especially valuable
for army slang and those expletives. T2

MacColl, Gail, and Carol McD. Wallace

To Marry an English Lord ****
Sidgewick and Jackson, Ltd., London, 1989
Whether the hunting of titles by rich young Yankee women (and
some Western heirresses), or the hunting of heiresses by bankrupt
(largely British) noblemen, the cross-Atlantic traffic forever
changed both Society and possibly world affairs. These are the
details from Mrs. Astor's Four Hundred to the weddings, the parties,
life in England, and how to remarry or at least play around.
Covers 1860 to about 1910. T3

Spies and Spymasters of the Civil War ****
Brings out the arguements as to just how much use espionage was
to either side, and especially examines the advances of communications
technology -- the telegraph and the newspaper -- for secret communication.
T2

What They Fought For: 1861-1865 *****!
Political scientists and historians can later come up with all
sorts of reasons "why" wars and battles were fought,
but only this sort of gleaning from the diaries and letters of
soldiers of both sides can tell you why they thought they
were fighting, why they stayed to risk death, instead of deserting
as was not too terribly difficult in this war. T2

Mellon, James, ed.

Bullwhip Days: The Slaves Remember *****!
now from Avon
Based on WPA (1930s) interviews with nearly 2000 ex-slaves. Gives
29 stories in full, buttressed by excerts from others, for a
fulsome recreation of the life by those no longer in fear of
retribution for telling the truth. T2

Miller, Nathan

Spying for America; the Hidden History of US Intelligence
**
The Paragon House, 1989; 482 pg, index, bibliography
Consider this a primer, if you consider it at all.

Mills, Betty J.

Calico Chronicle: Texas Women and Their Fashions 1830-1910
*****!
Texas Tech Press; 1985; 191 pg, 104 photos
Frontier, pioneer, and other plain, common, unfashionable folk,
with whom the country is filled. What they wore, 1830-1910, and
even how they took care of it. T1

Nock, O .S., editor

Encyclopedia of Railroads ****
Galahad Books, NY, 1977; 480 pg, index
History of railroads and equipment over the entire world, including
Africa, Asia, and south America. Sections on equipment and operation,
also the great luxury trains, past and present. Gorgeous colour
layout, oversize. One lap-breaker worth the effort of lifting.
T2

Osprey Books

Osprey military monographs are always worth reading IF you are
dealing with members of the target group. Their worst is three
stars; the quality of research and illustration is always high,
just some are more repetitive of basic information, others more
illuminative. T2.
Men-at-Arms Series:

American Civil War Armies: (1) Confederate; #170

American Civil War Armies: (2) Union; #177

American Civil War Armies: (3) Staff Specialists, Maritime;
#179

American Civil War Armies: (4) State Troops, #190

American Civil War Armies: (5) Volunteer Militia, #207

Army of Northern Virginia, #37

Army of the Potomac, #38

Flags of the American Civil War: (1) Confederate, #252

Flags of the American Civil War: (2) Union, #258

Flags of the American Civil War: (3) State & Volunteer,
#265

Warrior Series:

US Cavalryman, #4

Confederate Infantryman, #6

Pollard, E. A.

The Lost Cause ****
1866; now from Gramercy Press, NY; 752 pg
The Confederate version of the War Between the States, which
you owe it to yourself to read if you have a single Reb doing
other than a walk-on. T2

The Encyclopedia of Amazons: Women Warriors from Antiquity
to the Modern Era ***
Paragon House, NY, 1991; 290 pg, no index, bibliography
The War Between the States had hundreds of women killed and wounded
on the battlefields, on both sides. Most had to go disguised
as young men. Some botched their disguises early, some were discovered
only when sick or wounded. One at least spent the rest of her
life as a man. However, the subject is covered in more detail
by Hall, above, without being mixed in with other ages. T1

Scheffel, Richard L., project editor

Discovering America's Past **
Reader's Digest Books, Pleasantville, NY; 1993; 400 pg, index,
no bibliography
An omnium gatherum of inventions, customs, practices and lifestyles,
divided into 11 chapters by topic, such as "Educating America"
which follows educational development as a series of short articles
(half to full page) on unusual (to us) practices or noteworthy
developments. Heavily illustrated, flashes of information, one
of which may suit you. Best for the pages in the back listing
Living History sites you can visit. T3

Schuyler, Hartley, & Graham

Illustrated Catalog of Civil War Military Goods: Union
Army Weapons, Insignia, Uniform Accessories and Other Equipment,
Schuyler, Hartley & Graham *****!
1866 catalog; now from Dover; 160 pg, 226 illus.
The title sums it up. Most re-enactors swear by this. T3

Stephens, Autumn

Wild Women: Crusaders, Curmudgeons and Completely Corsetless
Ladies in the Otherwise Virtuous Victorian Era ****
Conari Press, Berkley, CA, 1992; 249 pg, no index, bibliograph
150 mini-biographies (none over two pages) of unconventional
women. Good to whet the appetite for further research in the
bibliography. Note the social hell these women caught, too, for
their actions. T2

The Cut of Men's Clothes 1600-1900 *****!
Theatre Arts Books, 1964
The most fashionable men's dress, in period illustrations, with
tailor's patterns, period comments on colours and fabrics, etc.
Superb. T3

The Cut of Women's Clothes, 1600 to 1930 *****!
Theatre Arts Books, 1968
The same for women. Both books show fastenings! T

Music

Of course this is before recording, but plenty of sheet music
survived, and is being performed and recorded.

Classical Brass

Honor to Our Soldiers: Music of the Civil War *****!

CD or Cassette

Songs from both sides, but mainly dance tunes, the sort heard
at any social gathering, or while idling away a bit of time on
the porch or in camp.

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Websites

H-GIG Historical Times & Places ***

http://www.ucr.edu/h-gig/topperindex.html

A thorough-going linksite maintained by the University of California
at Riverside, H-GIG sorts by area, by era (ancient, Medieval,
early Modern, Modern<yours>, and 20th C), or by topic (military,
women, etc.). It's a good place to start a hunt for books and
essays online.

Internet Modern History Sourcebook ****

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html

Halsall, whom we know from the Internet Medieval Sourcebook,
is responding to demand in the world by now compiling an onl-line
library on modern subjects. As it grows, you never know what has
been lately added.

The Phrenology Page ***

http://www.LHOON.com/phreno/index.html

"Phrenology is the science which studies the relationships
between a person's character and the morphology of the skull."
Includes a historical overview, definitions of words and concepts,
and images with meanings of various characteristics.